Some of the best music, song, and dance in the Celtic music world,
plus a little blues, a little country-folk, and some rockie-blues

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B I O G R A P H Y

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ALLAN TAYLOR
Up-dated January 10 2005

Kerouac’s Dream -
- A Life On The Road

This ragged band of poets, Christians, Buddhists, Jews
A new Beat generation searching for the muse
Some found it in the arms of a mystic mademoiselle
Looking for Nirvana, at the Beat Hotel

from “The Beat Hotel” by Allan Taylor

Inspired by Jack Kerouac’s novel, On the Road, Allan Taylor left his home in Brighton in the 1960's with nothing more than a guitar and a hunger to live the life of the travelling troubadour. He took to the road, following it to the present day.

The Show

• Pre-film: Allan Taylor discusses the art of song writing, using as examples his own songs; the story behind the song, why, when and where was it written. This can either be in the form of a workshop or seminar.
  
• The film Who Owns Jack Kerouac? by the late Jack Shea about the search for Kerouac’s legacy.
  
• Post-film: a full hour and a quarter concert by Allan Taylor ... his songs of life, "On the Road".

Technical and other requirements

• Facilities to show the film (DVD, VHS, Digital Betacam)
  
• Lighting
  
• A PA system comprising front speakers, one monitor speaker, a DI connection to amplifier (Allan will bring his own microphone).
  For smaller venues a PA system can be supplied by Allan at no extra cost to the venue.
  
• Accommodation for one

Alternatively Allan Taylor is available to give a solo concert as well as a song-writing master-class, workshop or seminar.

Approximate Fee Structure

• Afternoon song writing seminar: £200.00
  
• Evening film: £300.00
  
• Evening concert: £700.00
  
• Total package: £1200.00
  The fees here can be adjusted to take into account local variations and conditions of course, are listed as a guide and are not to be taken as completely prescriptive.

  Important Note: Allan Taylor is a member of the Yorkshire Artists in Residence Scheme and as such all concerts/events in Yorkshire, North and East Lincolnshire can be part funded by Yorkshire Arts (from 20% to 30% of the fee).

Allan Taylor presents “Kerouac’s Dream” – songs of life on the road.

From New York to San Francisco, from Mexico to Morocco, from the south of France to the Beat Hotel in Paris – this was the journey taken by “The Beats”. King of “The Beats”, Jack Kerouac crashed his way through the alternative scene of poetry, literature and music, driving from one flophouse to another across the USA in a borrowed automobile that always seemed a mile away from running on empty, scooping up life’s experiences like a handful of gold coins, riches that would start a revolution with words and poetry and song. The journey was aesthetic and spiritual and if a little extra substance helped them find Nirvana, so much the better it seemed. Along with Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso and William Burroughs together they created their anarchic poetry and prose, breaking down the walls defending so-called High Art Culture and banging on the doors of the literary establishment, who hid from the onslaught in fear that their day was over.

Allan Taylor is one of the more literate and sensitive of contemporary songwriters in terms of words and music, and one who is capable of exploring more complex subjects than most of his contemporaries ... he should probably be regarded as potentially the most important songwriter of his generation.
Dr. Frederick Woods, The Oxford Book of Traditional Verse

For over 30 years Allan Taylor has been on the road, travelling and performing around the world, observing it, writing about it and the characters he's met en route. Each song is a vignette of life, like a story told over a drink in a bar. Characters come to life and become people you recognise or know - places become as familiar as if you had been there. As Allan says at the beginning of each concert, “Sit back and enjoy the journey.”

Allan's album The Traveller (1978) won the very prestigious Grand Prix du Disque de Montreaux for the best European album while his most recent accolade is to be given the critics award, "CD of the year 2004", for his current CD, Hotels and Dreamers (2004) by the major German folkmusic monthly, Folker!. The award results will be published in Folker!'s January/February 2005 edition. This is a very significant award given Allan's popularity in Germany.

Along the way Taylor has recorded fifteen CDs of the songs he has written, of which more than fifty have been recorded by other performers. He has played all of the major festivals, concerts and clubs of Europe and America, and is considered to be the consummate performer, a writer of literary gracefulness whose troubadour chronicles encapsulate the realism of otherwise unsung heroes, otherwise uncharted lives.

More than seven years in the writing, in hotel rooms throughout Europe as he toured making concerts, Taylor wrote his Ph.D. thesis and gained a Doctorate in Ethnomusicology from The Queen’s University of Belfast.

Jack Shea Director of “Who Owns Jack Kerouac?”

The late Jack Shea made documentary films for 20 years. Born in Boston Massachusetts and a graduate of Harvard University, his credits include a number of award-winning films such as The Shepherds of Berneray, The Search for Alison MacDonald, Terry Gets Married, Prison India, and Channel 4’s landmark series Kumbh Mela - The Greatest Show on Earth. In 1986 Shea founded the Scottish Film and Television School at Edinburgh's Napier University; he ran the School until leaving it in 1996.

Shea’s most recent film Who Owns Jack Kerouac? is a powerful and controversial documentary exploring the relationship between the iconic author of, On the Road, and his never-acknowledged daughter, Jan Kerouac. The film records Shea’s cross-country journey exploring the bitter controversy over Jack Kerouac’s literary estate, a battle that cost Jan her career, her friends, and ultimately her life. The style of the film, switching narrative voices between objective and reflective, discursive and inspirational, intentionally mirrors the style of, On the Road, the book which catapulted Jack Kerouac to international fame. Woven into this story are comments and reflections from characters who are sometimes central to the story, and are at other times peripheral, prosaic and poetic intertwined, a reflection of the nature and experience of being on the road.

Beat Poet Ron Whitehead calls Who Owns Jack Kerouac? “One of the most important films ever made about the Kerouac legend”.